Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jan;117(1):102-109.
doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2016.08.006. Epub 2016 Sep 22.

What's Being Served for Dinner? An Exploratory Investigation of the Associations between the Healthfulness of Family Meals and Child Dietary Intake

Amanda C Trofholz, Allan D Tate, Michelle L Draxten, Seth S Rowley, Anna K Schulte, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Richard F MacLehose, Jerica M Berge

What's Being Served for Dinner? An Exploratory Investigation of the Associations between the Healthfulness of Family Meals and Child Dietary Intake

Amanda C Trofholz et al. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2017 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Little is known about the healthfulness of foods offered at family meals or the relationship between the food's healthfulness and child overall dietary intake.

Objective: This exploratory study uses a newly developed Healthfulness of Meal Index to examine the association between the healthfulness of foods served at family dinners and child dietary intake.

Design: Direct observational, cross-sectional study.

Participants/setting: Primarily low-income, minority families (n=120) video recorded 8 days of family dinners and completed a corresponding meal screener. Dietary recalls were completed on the target child (6 to 12 years old). The Healthfulness of Meal Index was used to measure meal healthfulness and included component scores for whole fruit, 100% juice, vegetables, dark green vegetables, dairy, protein, added sugars, and high-sodium foods.

Main outcome measures: Child dietary intake measured by three 24-hour dietary recalls.

Statistical analyses performed: Linear regression models estimated the association between the healthfulness of foods served at dinner meals and overall child HEI.

Results: The majority of coded meals included foods from protein and high-sodium components; more than half included foods from dairy and vegetable components. Nearly half of the meals had an added-sugar component food (eg, soda or dessert). Few meals served foods from fruit, 100% juice, or dark green vegetable components. Many components served at family dinner meals were significantly associated with child daily intake of those same foods (ie, dark green vegetable, non-dark green vegetables, dairy, and added sugars). The Healthfulness of Meal Index total score was significantly associated with child HEI score.

Conclusions: This study represents the first report of a new methodology to collect data of foods served at family dinners. Results indicated a significant association between the majority of components served at family dinner meals and child overall dietary intake. Validation of the Healthfulness of Meal Index and video-recorded family meal methodology is needed to strengthen these research methods for use in future studies.

Keywords: Diet quality; Direct observation; Family meals; Food availability; Meal screener.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Fulkerson Ja, Larson N, Horning M, Neumark-Sztainer D. A review of associations between family or shared meal frequency and dietary and weight status outcomes across the lifespan. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2014;46(1):2–19. - PubMed
    1. Hammons AJ, Fiese BH. Is frequency of shared family meals related to the nutritional health of children and adolescents? Pediatrics. 2011;127(6):e1565–e1574. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Christian MS, Evans CEL, Hancock N, Nykjaer C, Cade JE. Family meals can help children reach their 5 A Day: a cross-sectional survey of children’s dietary intake from London primary schools. J Epidemiol Community Heal. 2013;67(4):332–338. - PubMed
    1. Erinosho TO, Beth Dixon L, Young C, Brotman LM, Hayman LL. Caregiver food behaviours are associated with dietary intakes of children outside the child-care setting. Public Health Nutr. 2013;16(07):1263–1272. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Neumark-Sztainer D, Larson NI, Fulkerson JA, Eisenberg ME, Story M. Family meals and adolescents: what have we learned from Project EAT (Eating Among Teens)? Public Health Nutr. 2010;13(07):1113–1121. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources